- Around 40 were related to HKUST, while 13 involved the Chinese University of Hong Kong
- The Education Bureau shared the figures after lawmakers called for a Legislative Council panel meeting in response to an indecent assault case last year
University student events in Hong Kong have resulted in 87 students being disciplined, charged over the last 10 years. Photo: May TseOver the past decade, 87 people have faced criminal charges or been penalised for breaching campus rules at student-led events. Nearly half of the cases involved the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
The Education Bureau shared the figure in a report on Tuesday after lawmakers called for a Legislative Council panel meeting in response to the arrest of a 20-year-old University of Hong Kong (HKU) student on suspicion of indecently assaulting an 18-year-old woman during a three-day orientation event last August.
A breakdown of the cases, which date as far back as the 2013-14 academic year, showed 40 were related to HKUST, 13 involved the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Polytechnic University (PolyU) accounted for another 10.
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“The [40] cases mainly involved serving alcohol, using inappropriate language, unauthorised use of commercial logos on promotional materials or clothing and causing noise nuisance during student events,” HKUST had told the bureau.
Other universities said their own cases had involved offering alcoholic drinks, using offensive or foul language, creating noise-related nuisances, or unwelcome physical contact.
HKU, the city’s oldest tertiary institution, also labelled students being forced to eat a giant piece of cheese as an “improper act”.
According to the report, HKUST’s policy was to investigate each complaint and verify events with students and campus groups before deciding whether an incident constituted an improper act.
Penalties included a written warning and suspending student groups from booking university facilities or equipment for a period of one to three months, the university said.
“In the case of serious violations, the student disciplinary committee may intervene and prohibit [students] from organising the same activities in the following year,” it said.
CUHK said it had only received “a small number of complaints” in connection with student-organised events. “The cases include the violation of health rules during the pandemic and disputes among students,” it added.
HKU said it typically received up to three emails every year from concerned students and parents about potential incidents on campus.
“They generally involve some informal activities at students’ hostels, including watching sports programmes and playing cards in pantries and rooms, as well as creating noise-related nuisance during formal events like orientation programmes,” it added.
The university said the dean of student affairs usually handled potential cases of improper conduct and told the relevant senior campus staff to investigate.
“If the complaint is substantiated, the school may issue a warning to students or groups concerned,” it explained. “For more serious complaints, the dean of student affairs may also consider temporarily deregistering the student groups involved to prohibit them from using HKU facilities and resources.”
If a student had committed any misconduct, the case could be referred to the relevant committee for further discussion, the university added.
Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU), the city’s largest self-financing tertiary institution, said it had received five complaints concerning student orientation activities during the last academic year.
“They involved unwelcome physical contact,” the university said. “HKMU imposed penalties on some student groups including not being offered activity subsidies, being switched to inactive status and being prohibited to hold orientation activities in the following year.”
The university added that it had not received any complaints of sexual harassment.
Lingnan University (LU) only recorded one complaint of misconduct at a student-organised event, with the case from 2015 centring around the use of offensive language.
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“LU received a complaint from parents and the community, accusing a performer of singing a song with offensive language … LU apologises to the community and the person affected after setting up a task force to investigate and sending the LU’s student union a warning letter,” it said.
The university said it had also heard complaints about wasting water after some student groups had organised a “water battle”.
“From the 2017-18 school year, LU has banned all student activities to conduct similar activities in order to promote saving water and ensuring campus safety,” it said.
“Activities violating such rules will be terminated at once and the organisers will face disciplinary action.”